Trying new things.........Am I crazy?

Between work, P90X, training for a half marathon, planning a wedding and at some point taking a shower and sleeping I've decided to try something new, bike racing! As Jem Fromant says(one of Todd's 1000 FB friends) a "proper sport." After having the Cutters stay for 2 weeks, seeing Little 500(and the fact that those women have "proper" butts) and witnessing Libby and Dirk get after it at Ironman Orlando, I just had-ta!

"This is the cool way to relax on your bike"-Todd


I must admit, with the white wedding dress, the idea of a giant scab or sling for a broken collar bone does make me think twice, but I went yesterday for the first time and yes Libby I'm hooked.


For those who don't ride, here is a run down of the correct first day thanks to Todd! I will say I have been spinning for years, some Saturdays for 2 hours. And while that does prepare you in certain aspects, the fixed bike versus the road bike is a whole new world.

Before you get on the bike, you need a few essentials. First a shami! This is basically a nice soft diaper sewn into a pair of hopefully breathable shorts. They should be snug but not cutting off your circulation. Second a helmet, if you think its cool to not wear one you're an idiot and should not ride a bike. Water and a little nutrition before hand is important. I have been running for the better part of 10 years and have never been hungry even after a marathon, but I was starving after my ride. And of course a bike! I'm fortunate enough to have good friends who enjoy sports so Sasha and Libby both offered up. I ended up on Sasha's Synapse Cannondale with pedals that you slide your foot into(vs locking in.) Plan to budget some dinero for this sport and if you cant get the right gear wait until you can. You will be safer, more comfy, and ultimately enjoying yourself.

OK now you are ready somewhat. As I woke yesterday I also put on Bodyglide(thanks for the advise Felicia Regan) and sunscreen, I don't want to work on my "Pro-tan" -Jason Fowler.

We arrived at the boat ramp on Shore Drive. Took the bike's out and began learning. First we pumped up tires. Between 100 and 120 lbs is good(we went 110). This in itself is a new challenge; there are no kick stands on road bikes so its a delicate act of balancing, loosening the seal, pumping and doing it all over again.

Now for some White Lightening! This stuff is awesome. Its a cleaning lubricant. Putting it on is a feat in itself. Hold the bike, turn the pedal backwards and spray at the chain then pat your head, rub your belly and chew gum at the same time........get it?

Mount the bike, couple things. First you never ever put your foot over the top tube, so not cool, you have to swing around the back(first few times I managed to hit the tire, oh yeah looks who's awesome.) Ok now put your foot in, and push off, oh wait this bike weights about 3lbs, and I push down and the whole thing goes down! Needless to say this took some time.

So the next 30 minutes is filled with FAST heartbeats and SLOW mph, I'm talking about 6mph! I was so scared. Coming from the beach cruiser world where your feet do all of the work this was scary. Im 28 years old and have never been on a bike with hand brakes, it was like throwing someone from Arkansas who cant swim in the ocean. To quote Todd "that has to be the worst I have ever seen anyone at the start of a biking adventure and I'm pretty optimistic, but that was bad Heather. Surprisingly by the end you did great, lets pull the trigger on your bike." So after many expletives and some advice from Todd I finished the day having gone 24 miles, average speed about 17mph on the second loop, and hit 22.6 mph.



Check out my "rookie mark."


You finish feeling worked out but not beat up, your lungs are open, the wind is cool, and the views are beautiful! I cant wait to ride again. I went and bought shoes and clip in pedals and another shami already.




So am I crazy, maybe. I was talking with Juan Mas after our 5 mile loop this morning and he pointed out that all bikers get hurt, its expensive and if the novelty wears off well.... While the percentage of hits, falls, and other sillyness is higher(some guy up in Jax was so angry at a biker last week he stabbed the guy), there is less stress fractures, ITB issues, over heating and well, you just dont feel like the pavement beat you up when you finish. As for novelty, with Todd, the Cutters, The Bockels, Libby and Neil and the Regans, I dont think theres a lack of inspiration or people to ride with.


All I know is I went and bought clip in pedals, Diadora shoes, another shami, and gloves of my own and will be riding again Wednesday in the South if not sooner!!!!



GET GET GET

Zach Thomas Photography, nuff said

SO, as you can see now, there was no immediate words that could describe my excitement, the photos are amazing!! Little back story:

Todd and I looked long and hard at photographers because there are so many great ones in St Augustine, but we had a few specifics we needed. First and foremost we are not your typical sappy couple, its meaningful, its fun, its complicated. So we wanted someone who could capture that and who was willing to look outside the box to depict what Todd and I have. So this lead us to Zach Thomas Photography. Zach(ztphoto.com) is a local guy who amongst other things rocks in a band and takes sweet photos. When Todd had suggested him we had a quick phone call one day that basically went like this:

Me: Hey Zach here's the deal, I dont want hundreds of photos of Todd and I rolling around in the sand kissing on the beack or walking hand in hand in front of some house that isnt ours. I want something significant, I want 2 good photos

Zach: Do you have an idea or theme in mind?

Me: NO but Todd and I met through our professions, mainly I went in to solicit his CPA firm to partner with my company(ADP shameless plug) and his secretary thought I was cute and put me on his schedule. Todd actually cancelled the appointment at first because he doesnt meet with sales people but when his secretary insisted that he wanted to meet me, he took the appointment. I thought he was actually interested in buying/partnering, he was just interested in partnering emmmhmmmmm you know what i mean.

Zach: ok heres what im thinking, office romance, 1950s, sitting across a desk, its going to be a totally different process but it will be cool

Me: lets do it

Zach then hooked me up with Tara Ferreira who is a stylist for photos. I had actually seen some of her work on their family postcard(sethandtara.com). She came over with a few dresses and that was it!

Next thing you know im shoving quesadilla in my face on a sunday while Tara magically created this amazing beehive, beautiful lashes and the always neccessary attempt in the 50's to be as pale as possible. By the way as Tara says regarding lashes, "get ready to live!"

All in all Im looking forward to our second photo shoot with a little different theme, and of course the wedding!!!!!!

Inside the 6 and so much has happened

OK, I know I know, its been way to long since my last post, especially considering I said I would have a series of updates, but a lot has happened personally, professionally, and of course with the wedding.

So let's start with the why? Why haven't I posted? I mean really, how long can it take to type my own thoughts and submit on blogger? Well first things first Ive been working about 6 days a week for the past month attempting to make Presidents Club at my company which is a BIG deal; for my ego, pocketbook, and future with ADP(greatest company ever, and I mean that.) Normally this hasty pace doesn't occur outside of selling season, however as anyone reading this that's in sales knows all to well, you have your ups and your downs and well the first 6 months were down, way down. So, you will all be happy to know I'm pacing well and received a promotion this week to Senior District Manager, thank you very much!! I will know about Prez Club in about 2 weeks, keep me, my sanity, and Todd's unparalleled patience in your thoughts!! We get to go to the Baltic Sea for a week(Ive never left this country other than the DR with ADP in my life)

Next, and this was big, we changed the location of the reception. Several factors came into play and after having a very helpful conversation with my favorite St Augustine Accountant Ashley Trimboli about how much OCD I have and the panic that would follow we decided to move and are happy to announce we will be at The Loft and Rooftop of the White Room. We are so excited about the change which still limits the number of guests but with the 90 invites that went out we are NOT experiencing the 75% RSVP rate, actually close to 100% so we needed the space for sure. With the Nights of Lights being the night before, it will be beautiful from the Rooftop overlooking the main street down the river and we now have a dance floor and trolley to move guests to and from!!!

In addition we asked Mayor Joseph Boles to be our officiant and are looking forward to the personality he will bring to our day!

Other quick updates, our engagement photos are, pardon the explicative, BADASS! No other way to describe it, I'm so overwhelmed that any educated artsy specific articulation of them will have to wait until I post the finals on a blog; but I will say Tara Ferreira and Zach Thomas outdid themselves. I feel lucky to know such talented artist and look forward to our wedding photos and other fantastic opps to use them both in the future.

So that's it for now. Look for the engagement photos soon, as well as other details about flowers, and my new adventure, bike racing, which should be interesting! On a personal note, I'm one week out from P90X first round and its amazing, I will certainly pop those pics up and I'm up to 11 miles this training season already(maybe I will do the marathon this fall.)

Oh Zazzle.com, How I Love thee, let me count the ways

Alright ladies, brides to be, party planners, bridal shower givers, baby shower planners, mom's, sister's and heck even you men out there you need to listen up regarding invitations, ZAZZLE ROCKS! Everything from invites to postcards to t-shirts, stamps and stickers, you can customize anything! Upload your own photos, use one of theres, the site is super easy to use, they have a quality team that emails you same day with corrections and the product comes on time and totally professional looking!!

I even made a huge mistake on the original order with a typo, and they sent me an email requesting me to change the order then when they didnt hear from me deleted the order and refunded my money in full!! AWESOME!!!

My purchases so far have been Save the Date Postcards and personal stamps!!! I will be also ordering bridal shower invites and maybe some fun surprises for our guests! Anywho, you have to check it out!

zazzle.com

Update: Officiant Mayor Joseph Boales
Rehearsal Dinner planned
Still a whole lotta lotta!

A Dedication to some unlikely suspects in an unexpected place……CUTTER DYNASTY

For the many of you who read this rambling of mine I will now leave the topic of our wedding momentarily and fill you on the past few weeks leading up to the most Epic of sporting events I have ever witnessed and a family of friends stretching across the country that we call the CUTTERS. For some you may be familiar with the 1979 film starring Dennis Quaid amongst others, about a teen who is obsessed with Italian Bike racing. While in college he and 4 other friends create the bike team Cutters, referencing the stone cutters at the quarry they hang out at and win their first year in a last lap sprint. The film is loosely based on Phi Delta Fraternity where our history of the Cutters team picks up with the brothers Randy and Steve Ressinger(sp). The Cutters as we know them started in 1984 by the brothers and the tradition began. Each year teams of at least 3 riders and up to 4 make the long and grueling training schedule starting spring semester through the cold Indiana winter, followed by a nice 2 week training in Florida and end with the series of events leading to the ultimate in collegiate sports Little 500. The event similar to Indy 500, is a 200 lap bike race where teams “Mount your Schwinns”, exchange bikes, sprint, and eat laps to complete the race fastest and first. There are so many more details that lead up to this event and that’s what this blog is about.

When Todd first started courting me in December I received a text on New Years Eve 2008 that he was so excited to take out “The Cutters, especially Patches because it was his first big guy night out.” Little did I know at that time what a night out with Patches would entail but right then I didn’t have a clue of what he was talking about. What’s a Cutter? Why is this 35 year old entertaining collegiates? Oh lord what am I getting into here? A few months later as we wrapped up the Boston Marathon I came home and Todd flew to Indiana to see the Cutters 3-peat and historical 10th win. I didn’t join him that year because of work and never would have appreciated the event as much as I did now knowing what I know.

Fast forward to winter 2009 the Sunday after Christmas as Todd and I prepare for the arrival. Most thought I was crazy(im sure others had less niceties to say about me having 5 young men staying in the house) but as the guys came to town for 2 weeks I had my reservations. Dirty? Weirdos? Girls? To my surprise and thankfulness they were amazing! Just like Jim Kirkham, Jason Smith, Chris Vargo and the adopted Sweet Jason Sonneborn I met before them, what a great group of guys; Clayton Feldman , Eric “Hazel Bear” Young, Michael “Patches” Schroeder , Zack ”Hank” Lusk and Sam ”Tripple Thick” Harbison .Determined, polite, wow! This also was my first experience around the sport and its athletes. The gear, the terminology, and the training. I was able to participate in TT(Time Trials) at the Junction, man can they ride fast! They can also cook, clean, and carry things well. We had a ton of fun between new years and surfing on the internet for interesting topics, thank Hank for that one!

So as they left us at the end of the 2 weeks, little did I know(although I found out later Kirkham was the only one to know) that Todd would pop the question soon thus officially also marrying me into the Cutter family in addition to being a Neville(which also brings about some Little 500 Champ History in the form of Kori and the Road Runners.)

So here we are flying to Indy, and this is where the blog becomes the inevitable list of silly diatribe, chalked with double meaning, real meaning, and well, ill leave some to the imagination. Here we go:
“Domestic Partners”
Theodore Fredrick Kirkham
4 mile Campus trekking
Laughing Planet(LP)
Hazel, Patch, and Hank show up with big hugs
Todd and Heather Neville
Candy Stores
Tulips at Sample
Track, Senior Outfits, Jorts, Bad Tats, See Sam
Blue Ridge
Upland Caroline, Clayton, Vargo, Caitlin, Erik and Sasha, Triples, iCrapper
Andys House- Rev Taylor Big Damn Band, Emorys belly paintings
Bake house every morning for hours, Fowler, wearing Cutters, Allison and Sasha, Kate
Fabian says “Cutters WIN LITTLE 5”
GO GO’s House
Quarry adventure-Slant Rock, Rooftop, No parking signs, Todd the Rabbit
Nicks-Sink the Biz, Panties, Fat Chicks,
Face Loops
Flaming Lips
Little 5 Track Trecking
Nicks Mediation of “The Biz”, Late night pizza with Randy
Bakehouse and Patches Song
Running Errands at Feskes Garage
“Oh man im glad we got those crates” JK
LP with Erica, Allison, Team
Kilroys Breadsticks
Birth Canal
Burn outs
Todd as Clayton
Womens Little 500, Caroline’s Scare, Teter WINS
Toilet Paper Convo
Chicks with Diamonds
“We don’t wear pants”
Frat parties at 7am
Cutter Tailgate, Big Blue
Alumnae lunch, Kori’s Win, sneaking waters, cookies
Infield pass
Get gaps
“God says GO Cutters”
CUTTERS WIN LITTLE 5 TWICE
Robert and Kay
“Best loss we could have ever had” BKB Coach
Soaking Face Loop at Nicks
Scholars Inn
Todds receives Little 5 ring
Party, warm wine, patch and todd jagering, 3 gens of dance off
Sasha chair jumping
Kilroys cap off with Sonne and Elizabeth
Pizza X
Never met Woj’s wife

Fwew, what a trip. This list doesn’t begin to describe the love and friendships forged over the lifetime of the CUTTERS. The “W” is so important but so is the ride. As the next years riders are yet to be discovered, and generations of CUTTERS are born, I know without a doubt the perpetuity with which the family goes on will be unwavering. Whether here in Florida for Winter training, at Robert and Kays sleep over, the BakeHouse and Laughing Planet for their extreme generosity to our riders and the foundation which it sits upon, Todd, Fowlers and Jims constant planning, and Jim Kirkham’s lifetime commitment, the dynasty will be. One Love, see you next year Cutters!

Something Blue

"Mary in Blue, Lover be true"

So a new habit of googling everything led me to the origin of the famous and ever lasting poem. A little out of order but a detail already received. And for those who think "color" in wedding dresses is not traditional, you need a history lesson. In fact, early 19th century most wedding dresses were blue to symbolize modesty and purity, most commonly found on Mother Mary.

As previously mentioned, I did decide to illicit a bridesmaid;Thank you and Sorry Katie ;) Prior to the decision, not that there was a question of who, but if you recall a question of having any attendants at all, Katie surprised me a bit ago with an amazing detail. The sash above is to be sewn into my dress. What an awesome idea!

Just for a little introduction, Katie Murphy and I met many years ago in the now famous(or infamous, I don't know which I will admit to) Myra Pool! It was 2006 and what a FUN summer that was. Little did we know at the time what a great friendship would stem from that silly pool!(And many others for that matter)

Katie since then married her best friend Tom and they have Little Tommy and live just blocks from my parents in Jacksonville Beach. I was fortunate enough to meet their entire family and look forward to seeing them grow!

Detail 1: The Ring

Many of you asked, so here it is!

As Todd says he did "lots of listening.

My ring is a JB STAR design with beautiful detail filigree platinum setting with 100 accent diamonds. The main stone is a 1.7k radiant cut and a trapezoid on either side.

The ring is interesting, complicated, and a little "old lady gaud"(as Todd says) just like me!

Its perfect!